What If?
by darkvampiregirl13
Summary: What if, when escaping from Honorius, Kitty bumped into John Mandrake? What if they decided not to kill each other at that point? Not the most likely of situations, but that's why this is a fanfic! K-plus because of some violence. No blood though, so it's fine, right?


_Um… this is a fanfic request… John x Kitty (kinda…) And um... let's see…_

_Warnings – Um um… There's a fight scene. And um:_

_John and Kitty standing on the street_

_K-I-S-S-I-N-G_

_Also, writing romance-y stuff doesn't come naturally to me, so that part may be a little awkward. _

_B-but the fight scene at the end kinda makes up for it. _

_Anyway…_

_Disclaimer: I. No. Own. Bartimaeus. Trilogy. If I did… There would've been a movie made about it already! _

_I think this should be rated K+... Not sure though..._

Kitty somehow half-stumbled half-ran up the stone steps of Gladstone's tomb. Terror clouded her thoughts, disgust blinded her senses.

Mr. Pennyfeather, Anne, Frederick, and the others… Their greedy expressions were plastered into her mind. They claimed to be taking from the government in the name of justice, similar to a modern-day Robin Hood, but in truth, they were no better than petty thieves. No better than the government, even.

Kitty was so enwrapped in her thoughts and veil of horror that it wasn't until she had bumped into the man before her that she finally thought to look up to take in her surroundings.

She was out of the tomb – that was the good news. The bad news? Well, she wasn't that far away from where the afrit was last seen.

"Sorry," she muttered to the person she had bumped into and attempted to elbow her way past.

Instead, her wrist was caught in a small, somewhat uncertain grip.

Furiously, she turned to guy in front of her, directing all her pent-up anger and frustration at this one target.

"Kitty?"

Her fist froze an inch from the boy's brown eye.

"Um… sorry?" he managed to squeak.

Kitty narrowed her dark eyes in a glare. "And who the hell are – Oh."

The child in front of her cleared his throat. "Hello, Kitty."

"Mandrake," she spat. That's right. It was all his fault. He and his stupid government leaders were the reason the Resistance formed in the first place. The thought held no conviction, and the fire dwindled from her eyes. Even if the government wasn't so corrupted, people like Pennyfeather would still exist.

She looked up at him, properly assessing him for what seemed like the first time.

John Mandrake. How many times had she and her companions heard the name. How she had loathed the bearer of it. Yet staring at the boy with that determined gaze in front of him, no older than she (probably younger), she felt a twinge of sympathy.

"So? Get on with it." Kitty placed her hands on her hips, impatient.

"What?"

"You're here to place me under arrest, are you not?"

"U-um… Yes – I mean, NO! – I mean… Aaaugh…" He looked down. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but Kitty could have sworn he was _blushing_.

"You mean what?" Kitty asked, raising a bemused eyebrow.

"Don't hate me." His eyes met hers, pleading with Kitty.

"What? Mmph-!"

The cocky bastard took the chance to give her a peck on the lips.

"Mm-mmph gerrof!" Giving John a push that sent him sprawling on the cobblestones, she looked away, face tinted a slight pink.

Kitty crossed her arms, trying not to show too much agitation. It was a trap. She was sure of it! But some part of her brain urged her to throw caution into the wind and return the teen's gesture.

"Ahem Excuse me if I caught you two lovebirds at a bad time, but there's an afrit on the loose, Na – John."

The dazed minister stood and dusted himself off. "O-of course, Bartimaeus."

Kitty spun around and found herself face-to-face with a smirking demon.

Mandrake coughed twice to draw her attention back to him. "Ms. Jones, I-I hope you'll forgive me." He began stuttering, which Kitty found more than slightly amusing. "Something must have … I don't know… It – that wasn't me… I – "

"Shut up." In a brief moment she had stepped over to Mandrake and kissed him with as much confidence as she could. Which wasn't much, admittedly.

Kitty stepped back. Mandrake stood in front of her, mouth gaping slightly with shock.

Two pairs of eyes met and emotions were wordlessly conveyed. Silence filled the dark alley. A few drops of rain fell, and not long after, sheets of precipitation battered the two humans.

"Oh please, don't let _me_ spoil the moment," Bartimaeus drawled, "but it may interest you to know that the afrit is heading our way." A chuckle. "And I don't plan to be sticking around when he decides to fry whoever crosses his path."

The magician and the commoner acted as though they hadn't heard him.

"Kitty… I …"

"No mushy words," Kitty said sternly. Then, leaning closer, she whispered reluctantly, "I guess I don't despise you all that much either."

"I can _hear_ you!" the djinni sang loudly.

"Shut up," Kitty and John said at the same time, the previous mood seeming to have disappeared.

Bartimaeus opened his mouth to retort when a powerful Inferno blasted the cobblestones at Kitty's feet.

"AAAH!"

"KITTY!"

Bartimaeus yawned.

Kitty Jones rolled on the floor and got unsteadily to her feet. "Try again," she snarled at the afrit, pulling out her silver necklace and waving it warningly.

"_Wooooaaah _watch where you're pointing that thing!" Bartimaeus cried, somersaulting backwards. "It's burning _my_ essence too, you know."

"Bartimaeus, do something!" Nathaniel screamed.

"What do you expect me to do, Mandrake?" Bartimaeus protested. "That's an _afrit!_" Yet despite with he had just said, Kitty could almost see the gears in the demon's head turning. A spark in his eyes, barely perceptible, was all Kitty needed to see to know he had a plan.

"Actually you know what? Bye, losers!" he grinned. Then he darted toward the skeleton.

_That was his plan? Doesn't seem like a particularly good one… _

The djinni arrogantly pushed the skeleton out of his way, blowing a loud raspberry as he did so. "Can't catch me~! Can't catch me~!"

The afrit growled threateningly, and, with unexpected speed, turn to take up rapid pursuit. "COWARD!" he shouted. "STAY AND LET ME KILL YOU."

"Tempting, but no," Bartimaeus said cheekily.

Kitty wanted to run after the otherworldly pair, but John had grabbed her wrist again.

"Let go!" she demanded.

"No."

"I said, _let go_!"

"And I said no. Kitty, come with me to Whitehall. No, better yet, find somewhere else to hide. Hide from both the other magicians and the afrit."

"But Bartimaeus –"

"Will more likely than not be destroyed by the afrit." He bit his lip hesitantly. "I'll dismiss him as soon as I can. That might save him if done soon enough…" His wild gaze fell back on Kitty. "But every moment you waste arguing here with me means another moment Bartimaeus may not survive. It means another moment of danger he's putting himself in because he was trying to protect us," John finished, hoping his speech would make Kitty guilty enough to at least try to move out of the alley.

Kitty hesitated.

"Go!" With as much force as he could muster, he pushed Kitty forward.

Kitty ran, looking back only once. She bolted through the twisting streets and didn't stop until she had reached Mr. Pennyfeather's shop. It wasn't until she had slipped inside and locked the door that the adrenaline finally left her veins. A sob left her lips and she curled up as tightly as she could, listening to the faint noises of chaotic pursuit outside.

_Bartimaeus_

The afrit sprinted after me. One particularly unfortunate (for the afrit, as least) disadvantage of being encaged within a moldering human skeleton was made especially clear as we continued our mad dance through the London streets: he couldn't fly.

Normally an afrit like him would've changed form and sprouted wings, catching me before the hunt had really even begun. As he was encased within a human shell, however, the most he could currently was keep up with me. Well he could also fire poorly aimed Spasms and Detonations, but I really don't think those count.

Even so, I knew I could not keep up the pace forever, and I knew he knew it too. Sooner or later it was going to catch me.

However I was going to give it a hell of a night before that happened.

I flipped off the roof and landed in front of the Thames. A moment later the skeleton arrived.

"Before I dispose of you," I called out arrogantly, "I'd like to know your name." I needed to buy time, both to think up a plan and to let the girl Kitty escape. My master could shrivel up in a bottle and die for all I cared, but that girl Kitty… she was an interesting specimen and reminded me slightly of… Ptolemy.

Fine, maybe I also had half an urge to save the wretched Mandrake.

"My name?" Up until that point I had not heard the entity speak. Now that he did so, I found myself listening to a constantly changing voice. First it was low, next it was like listening to an opera. "Honorius." As he said so, he began to inch forward. When he was within striking range, he lunged.

I had seen it coming. I jumped out of the way and sent a Spasm toward him.

Honorius reacted a millisecond too late. He tried to dodge the incoming attack, but it caught him in his knee. The joint made a sickening cracking sound and fell off.

The spirit slowly raised his skull to look at me, flames literally dancing out of his eyes.

"Careful," I warned, "you don't want to burn what's left of your head, do you?" In reply, Honorius lunged madly at me.

I let him grab me. I made sure he got a nice, firm grip.

I leapt into the Thames.

Honorius let out a furious shriek, which was cut short by the water gurgling in his head.

After jumping into the Thames with Honorius, I had originally intended to change shape and fly off. Honorius, trapped in his limiting human form, would be trapped under the currents of the Thames. Even if he weren't destroyed, he wouldn't be able to resurface.

Now, however, I felt something cold and searing press against my back.

_Silver_. My eyes widened in horrified realization. My head tilted back to let out a scream of pain as the metal was forced deep within my essence.

"Y-you'll end up… killing yourself… too…" I managed to say through pained yells.

Honorius gave a lopsided grin. "So? I'll drown in the Thames anyway. Might as well bring you down with me."

I twisted my essence painfully and somehow escaped from Honorius's grasp. Somehow I found the strength to drag myself on land. Somehow I didn't die in the process.

_Smaller_, I thought to myself. _Use less essence… _I turned into an ant. Still, essence poured out from my form.

With a small, involuntary shudder, I fell unconscious.

_Ok, ok. I know it's not the best of works, but.. um… Review anyway? I mean, I wrote 8 pages, ok? (Nine including the A/N's) That's, like, a LOT for me._

_I liked writing about Bartimaeus and Honorius's fight more than the kissy-kissy scene between Natty and Kitty. That's probably why the fighting scene turned out better (at least in my opinion) than the kissy-kissy one. _


End file.
